Boatyard painters raft

[michael pierzga]

A friend of mine needs a new painters punt, raft. Any aspiring plywood designers out there with good ideas for a painters punt ?

Something round ended, " band aid," shaped, two sheets of plywood long, not to beamy to slide between yachts, jumbo stand off rubbing bumpers at boot top level, with enough stability and free board to allow two workers to stand on the work side with dry feet. The punt need not be symmetric....paint side port. Fresh Water Ballast for wash down and stabilty , if simple, might be OK. Perhaps self propelled with a 2 horse stuck thru the middle for habour transit and covered with box, paint table.

[frank smith]

2 hulls might be better than one .

[michael pierzga]

Too much beam Frank...over here boats go stern too. 2 meters would be max beam for a painters float or it wouldn't be able to get between moored yachts .. Typical jobs are teak cap rails, bulwarks, stem head gear, transom name painting and repairs. Ive seen some nice ones, just wondering if any designs or different ideas are out there. .

[keysdisease]

Down here in Ft Lauderdale they are typically a block of styrofoam with 1/4" of plywood glued to the top. Usually around 4' x 8' and maybe a foot thick. One of the long sides is typically cut at an angle to get right up tight to the hull and the other square so someone can sit with legs over the side for work right at the waterline.

Detailers use them a lot here and they are light enough to carry around with a couple of guys. I see guys with electric polishing machines and their legs hanging in the water compounding and waxing hulls from these all the time. Major trust going on there with the GFI, that is if they even have one.


Steve

[TeddyDiver]

A ply punt..

[BATAAN]

Originally Posted by keysdisease

Down here in Ft Lauderdale they are typically a block of styrofoam with 1/4" of plywood glued to the top. Usually around 4' x 8' and maybe a foot thick. One of the long sides is typically cut at an angle to get right up tight to the hull and the other square so someone can sit with legs over the side for work right at the waterline.

Detailers use them a lot here and they are light enough to carry around with a couple of guys. I see guys with electric polishing machines and their legs hanging in the water compounding and waxing hulls from these all the time. Major trust going on there with the GFI, that is if they even have one.


Steve

The above sounds like it works well to solve the problem and is certainly simple, no-maintenance (unlike a plywood punt) and cheap.
In an old WW2 shipyard in California I saw rotting in the weeds a couple of painters punts. They were 1 1/2" plank sides, cross plank bottom, raked ends like a barge, about 3' wide, 14"-16" deep and maybe 18' long. These would be put alongside a ship with a ladder or low staging in them.